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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27072112">Seeing Red</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/NearlyNormal/pseuds/NearlyNormal'>NearlyNormal</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Among Us Drabbles [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Among Us (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Character Death, Gen, Impostor Red (Among Us), POV Impostor (Among Us), The Skeld (Among Us)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-09 00:48:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,162</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27072112</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/NearlyNormal/pseuds/NearlyNormal</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>red explored the stars in her imagination until she finally got out among them</p><p>the story of Feeling Blue from Red's perspective, not needed but you understand the story better if you've read it</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Blue &amp; Red (Among Us)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Among Us Drabbles [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1972849</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Seeing Red</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this is cause a friend who mains as Red took Affront and demanded I 'restore her reputation' so I hope this is alright!!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>When Red was a child she looked up to the stars and saw hope.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was a happy child from a large family, always an aunt or two round the table with a plethora of small cousins to play with amongst the legs of the old oak table. Red was never the loudest but she had an active imagination which allowed her to weave an intricate tapestry of make believe; cocooning her family in a blanket of worlds and magic and fantasy. She became the most important amongst the children ruling over her young subjects like a benevolent Ruler. Together they rode in the trails of stars, conquered galaxies and explored far off planets. They were gods.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But there was also something within her, a kernel itching to reach some form of truth in her stories. Her parents always told  her she should go travelling. Where better to travel than a new set of worlds.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>•••</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her first hurdle was how to get there. Lost in the chasm of her own hopes and dreams, the sands of time had trickled through her fingers and the galaxy squadron training school had already closed its gates to her. So Red did what she did best; she became indispensable. Red trawled through hours of research through the holographic library, downloaded thousands of digital files and arranged meetings with countless officials from the Mira Corporation. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Finally Red got an in.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She refocused her studies towards learning ancient literature from all known contacted worlds. She was a linguist, a historian and an archiver. On paper. Her true job was far more vital. It involved hours of training in behavioural linguistics and sociology. It meant courses in psychology and analysis. And it culminated in learning the subtleties of body language and anatomy. Red was a human lie detector.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Red was an Imposter catcher.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The officials of Mira had outlined to her the increase of research ships being lost to these parasites. How they easily evaded the untrained eyes of the regular workers and slaughtered the entire crew before even being detected. Red was one of many new recruits being slowly phased in under the guise of ‘translator and diplomat’ in an attempt to stop these massacres before gossip slithered back to the Homeworld.</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>Within her, the kernel sang. She never considered turning them down.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>•••</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was assigned a research trip departing to Polus in 3 days upon the ship the Skeld. She had never met her team but they'd all been thoroughly checked and cleared in numerous scans, as had Red. Red spent the first day scanning through their files and learning the body language and biometrics of every member ready to check for  anomalies on the long carrier journey. She spent the second day, her last full day on Earth, back where it all began.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It felt odd to come home and see the top of the old oak table  instead of running between the legs but as she sat at the table with her mother and aunts, a sense of pride and accomplishment spread through her body. The kernel had sprouted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Of course that was the last happy memory Red had for a while.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It happened as she was walking towards the bus stop. Red wasn’t stupid and she wasnt unarmed but it’s impossible to defend against a parasite. For the next few minutes a battle raged silently across the cells inside Red. Then it stopped. Quiet. Slowly, she opened her eyes and was faced with the familiar view of the street illuminated by a flickering streetlight. It wasn’t until she tried to move her arm she realised she had no feeling. And it wasn't until the opposite arm moved without her direction did she realise what had happened.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Red was the Imposter whether she wanted to be or not.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>•••</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Imposters are far more complex than Red had been led to believe. They didn’t require sleep, freezing the cells in metabolic function without needing to replenish or rejuvenate the cells. In that time They spent time reading Red’s notes, absorbing the information and learning the best way to hide within the group. They had already passed the scans so were safe in the eyes of Mira. And Red had no power to tell anyone, she had no power at all.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The next day was boarding. It felt like being suffocated with the constant screaming, begging for someone to notice how wrong everything was. No one did. She was an unwelcome passenger in her own body. She couldn’t even sleep.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They killed Black first. Black had been too good at her job and was trying to scan everyone in Medbay regularly. They couldn’t trust Black. Black died and They dragged her head down the hall. That was the first time Red fought It and won. It wasn’t happy but at least the head was in one piece, at least Black’s family would have a body to bury.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Yellow was next, suffocated. No reason, It just wanted to kill.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>White had the most carefully planning administered. They observed White and Cyan and made their plan. It worked. They could sense Blue behind them but didn’t turn round. Red was grateful, Blue had already seen too much for such young eyes. Red didn’t want to have to kill her, she felt strongly on that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Red hated lying to her crew but It lied impeccably, twisting the words of Cyan. It was watching the crewmates, Red could only watch Blue. Watch her silent screams, watch her tears. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Something inside her died alongside Cyan. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>•••</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When They next saw Blue she was accompanied by a small grey cat. Asking Orange They ascertained the cat's name was Lumos, Lumi for short and belonged to Black. It had been living with Blue within her rooms but she had decided to bring the Cat with her on tasks. Blue also had a new friend with her, Brown. Brown was a caring older sibling back on Homeworld and after witnessing Blue’s breakdown had  taken Blue under their wing. But Blue knew too much. It decided Brown had to die. And Red could do nothing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The day progressed and They were never alone with Brown. At every last second another crewmate walked in or a meeting was called. Red never stopped praying. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then the worst moment came. Brown was downloading at the top of the Cafeteria, Blue was at the bottom; too far to stop it. They were inching towards Brown when They stopped.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Re</span>
</p><p>
  <span>     d     w</span>
</p><p>
  <span>               A       s</span>
</p><p>
  <span>                                  ṣ͇̭͍͜ ͉̬̠̟̗c̜͍ ͍r͚̗̖ ͚̖̘͖̝̥e̩͝ ̷͎a̝̲͓̮̻͢ ̻̘͍́m͙̻̣̜̮͖ ̼͓̺͓̱̠̀i͍͚͚̙̙ ̘n̲̕g̡                 i N</span>
</p><p>
  <span>                                                                                s i D e</span>
</p><p>
  <span>                                                                                                         t </span>
</p><p>
  <span>                                                                                                              hE</span>
</p><p>
  <span>                                                                                                                 i r</span>
</p><p>
  <span>                                                                                                                              m i n d .</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> f i gH ti </span>
</p><p>
  <span>                ng </span>
</p><p>
  <span>                         fO</span>
</p><p>
  <span>                                 R                               c͔͙̲͚͓̮͜o͔̳̲̕͞͞ ̭͕̖̳͚̪ͅn҉̫̫ ̢̥͈̠̪͔͈̘̖t̥̙̩̱͔̰͘ͅ ̵̮̘̣̭̞̀͡Ṟ̨͙̦͈̮̖͢͟O͏̫̤͉̀ ̶̨̜̭͠L̡̗̯̮̹̺̩̫</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>And then it was quiet again. And Red relished in it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They stared back towards the Skeld, finally free once again, watching Blue and Brown and Lumi.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And Blue was safe. And that's all that mattered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And Red looked at the stars and saw hope.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
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